Complaints to NHS highest for five years

Complaints to NHS Tayside have risen by 16% in a year.

Tayside has the third highest level of complaints in the country, with 1,444 made about hospital and community health care between 2016 and 2017.

NHS Fife received 370 complaints during the same timeframe.

Official stats released by the NHS yesterday show more than 1,000 complaints were registered in relation to family health services provision within Tayside.

Fife saw 513 complaints recorded.

Across the board, complaints to NHS Scotland have risen 10% in a year and are equivalent to around 64 per day, new figures have shown.

Official statistics revealed 23,507 grievances were registered between April 1 2016 and the end of March 2017, up from 21,454 the previous year.

Complaints are now at their highest level in the past five years but represent just 0.06% of all NHS Scotland activity.

Scottish Labour’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar said the figures are “deeply troubling”, while his Scottish Liberal Democrat counterpart Alex Cole-Hamilton called on the government to take immediate action to “relieve the pressure on health service staff”.

Health secretary Shona Robison said: “We’ve worked with the NHS to seek more feedback from patients and their families, ensuring a greater awareness of how people can make a complaint and have confidence it will be listened to and acted on.

“This is a helpful way of identifying issues and areas in need of change. Acknowledging these issues and taking steps to rectify any associated problems is vital in creating an open and honest NHS and in maintaining the quality and safety of NHS services.”

Health Secretary Shona Robison says the NHS is “honest and open”.